The present invention relates to loading of medium caliber fire weapons and is particularly--but not exclusively--suitable for loading mortars and guns carried by turrets and vehicles.
The words "medium caliber weapon" are to be construed as designating those weapons which fill the gap between the small-caliber automatic weapons fed by racks, bands or clips and the weapons whose ammunition has a weight which excludes manual handling. It may be considered that the weight of a round of ammunition of a medium caliber weapon is of from a few Kg to about twenty Kg.
The turret mounted medium caliber weapons are typically loaded manually. The rounds of ammunition are stored inside the turret in racks of appropriate size or around the "basket" supported by the turret and accommodating the crew. The rounds of ammunition are stored at locations at different distances from the weapon. The gunner must carry them over a length which varies with the storage location of the round. While the constraint is often acceptable, it represents a serious disadvantage during actions which require fast firing: in fact, it is difficult to fire several successive rounds at a rate of ten shots per minute.
Another prior art apparatus (U.S. Pat. No. 3,134,301) comprises a barrel body mounted for rotation about a substantially horizontal axis in a casing. Several locations regularly distributed about the axis are formed in the barrel each for receiving one round of ammunition. Means are provided for rotating the barrel angularly by steps equal to the angular interval between successive locations. Consequently each location in succession may be moved to register with an aperture in the casing for loading the round by axial forward movement thereof. The barrel is located immediately behind the breech of the weapon but transversely offset to provide the room necessary due to recoil movement of the weapon; a transversely movable cradle must be provided for carrying the round of ammunition from the barrel to a position in alignment with the weapon. The cradle and its drive and guide system increase the bulk and the intricacy of the apparatus and slow down the firing rate and the apparatus is designed for the weapon to be loaded through the barrel only.
It is an object of the invention to provide an improved loading apparatus for medium caliber weapons; it is another object of the invention to provide an apparatus which makes it possible for the gunner manning the weapon to have at his disposal several rounds of ammunition in a preparatory intermediate position in the vicinity of the cartridge chamber of the weapon, without any interference with conventional manual loading and with the aiming system. It is a more particular object to improve the ergonomic conditions of firing and to increase the firing rate temporarily with a system which is simple, rugged and reliable.
The apparatus according to the invention has a stationary casing located behind the cartridge chamber of the weapon and having an ammunition outlet aperture. A barrel is mounted in said casing for rotation about a substantially horizontal axis and is formed with a plurality of ammunition receiving locations distributed at equal angular intervals about said axis. The barrel may be rotated by manually actuable means by angular steps selected to bring each location in turn into registry with the aperture. The round of ammunition in the registering location may be withdrawn through the aperture. The casing need not and will not be carried by the weapon, but may rather be fixed to the structure supporting the weapon, typically a turret. The casing will be located and arranged with respect to the cartridge chamber to leave free a path for inserting a round of ammunition into said cartridge chamber directly.
Latch means will preferably be provided for non-rotatably connecting said barrel and casing and typically operatively associated with the manually actuatable means for being rendered cooperative upon actuation of said manually actuatable means. Resiliently returned aperture closing means may be used for preventing movement of the ammunition out of the casing when in registry with said aperture in the casing. The closing means may consist of a spring biased pin which is moved away by the gunner for loading.
When the apparatus is carried by a turret, for instance on an armoured vehicle, the casing is typically fixed to the turret wall, rearwardly of the cartridge chamber of the weapon and slightly offset whereby it allows recoil and does not hinder introduction of a round of ammunition directly taken from a storage location in the turret. Ammunition guide means may be located between the aperture of the casing and the cartridge chamber. They may consist of a rotary roller mounted in a position such that the rear of the ammunition is carried by the roller when the cap comes into contact with the breech. Thus the casing may be placed at a distance from the breech of the weapon which is slightly greater than the length of the ammunition without the gunner having to support the whole weight of the ammunition during transfer.
The invention will be better understood from reading the description which follows of a particular embodiment given by way of example only.